Provenance of obsidian artifacts from the Natural Protected Area Laguna del Diamante (Mendoza, Province Argentina) and upper Maipo valley (Chile) by LA-ICP-MS method

By means of inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry associated with Laser Ablation (LA-ICP-MS) we analyzed several obsidian artifacts from the Natural Protected Area Laguna del Diamante (Mendoza, Argentina) and upper Maipo valley (Chile). This analytical method, almost non-destructive, is a powerful tool for the determination of trace elements and is very useful in characterizing and determining the provenance of obsidian fragments of archeological interest, although care must be taken to avoid or account for heterogeneities within obsidian such as microcrysts.